What is the property right?

We explain what property law is and what its characteristics are. In addition, examples of application of this right.

1. What is the property right?

The  right of ownership or ownership is the direct and immediate legal capacity that a person has with respect to a specific object or property, which allows them to freely dispose of them within the framework established by law.

In other words, it is about the power that legal subjects have over objects and properties to do what they want with them, without violating the law or causing damage to third parties.

The property right applies to all objects subject to appropriation, which is determined by three main characteristics:

• That they are useful , because if not, their appropriation would not make sense;
• That they are limited , because if they were infinite, it would not be necessary to appropriate them;
• That they may be occupied or possessed , otherwise there would be no way to act the power of property rights over them.

Similarly, it is considered that the right of full ownership gives the holder three powers over the object or property in question, which are the use ( ius utendi ), enjoyment ( ius fruendi ) and enjoyment ( ius abutendi ), a distinction that was born in Roman Law during medieval times:

• Ius utendi . The owner has the right to use the thing as he pleases, in accordance with his interests and the social function he possesses, as long as he does not violate the law or cause injury to other owners.
• Ius fruendi . The owner has the right to take advantage of the thing, of the fruits that it generates directly or indirectly, or that remains after its use.
• Ius abutendi . The owner has the right to dispose of the thing as he wishes, either to destroy it, alienate it, abandon it, rent it, etc., as long as it does not go against its social function and does not violate any third party right or any legal ordinance.

2. Characteristics of the property right

Property rights are considered to exist in the following ways:

• Moral . Since the appropriation is reflexive and not instinctive.
• Perpetuo . Since it will last until good exists.
• Exclusive . Since there can only be one owner of the thing at a time.
• Limited . Since it can be restricted by the common good , by the need of others or by law.
• Perfect . Since the owner can defend his property of the thing even by the proportionate exercise of force.

3. Examples of property rights

The property right can be verified in cases such as the purchase or sale of a house , since there will necessarily be a sole and exclusive owner who puts it on sale and a new sole and exclusive owner who agrees to pay for it. Once the transaction is over, the property will have been transferred from one subject to another, but the house will never have ceased to belong to someone.

Another example would be a farm in which there are numerous fruit trees. These are, together with everything planted in the land, exclusive property of the owner, as well as the fruits that these trees throw, and of which the owner may dispose as he wishes: selling them, giving them away or leaving them to rot.

4. Property Examples

There are different ways of classifying a property according to what is established by this branch of law, such as:

• Classification by subject . You can talk about private property (when it belongs to an individual), public (when it belongs to the State ), individual (if it belongs to a single owner), private collective (when it belongs to a private community ) or public collective (when it belongs to all and is administered by a public entity or body). 
  • For example : A park is collective public property, while a farm is individual private property, and the assets of a private company are private collective property.
• Classification by nature . There are movable properties (they can move from site), real estate (they cannot be transported without damaging them), bodily (which can be perceived by the senses) and incorporeal (the one that is constituted by mere rights, is abstract).
  • For example : A car is a movable good, a house is a real estate, both have body property. While the owner of a loan has an incorporeal property.